Does money change people? If we go by Woody Allen's
latest movie "Small Time Crooks," the answer is a resounding
NO and a thunderous YES. In other words, some people
stay pretty much the same when they come into the big ones,
while others turn their lives around 180 degrees. When a
working-class couple married for twenty-five years suddenly
get rich, the woman of the house transforms herself while her
man is happy to be who he always was. This dissonance in
their relationship is the basis for not only the generous laughs
in "Small Time Crooks" but forms a more serious motif as it
creates at the same time a poignant rift in their relationship.

As for Woody Allen himself, the more he's changed as a
filmmaker the more he stays the same. After developing a
rep for light comedy with "What's New Pussycat" in 1965 and
parlaying his success with take-offs on such diverse themes
as crime movies ("Take the Money and Run" in 1969) and on
Russian literature ("Love and Death" in 1975), Mr. Allen
reached his apogee winning three Oscars for "Annie Hall."
With "Interiors," he turned briefly serious, to a Bergmanesque
study of a family of frustrated men and women. After that, he
pretty much went with what he did best--light comedies of
manners, gently spoofing aspects of our family lives. This is
just what Mr. Allen has afforded us with "Small Time Crooks,"
a lampoon which begins as a lowbrow caper piece only to
zigzag like "Zelig"--which was about a chameleon-like
character in his 1983 contribution to the comedy genre.

"Small Time Crooks," filmed with an amber tint by Zhao
Fei and with Allen's signature soundtrack of 1920s melodies,
opens as Ray Winkler (Woody Allen) buys a box of
chocolates for his wife Frenchy (Tracey Ullman). Ray, an ex-
con who is now a dishwasher, discusses with Frenchy
(formerly an exotic dancer and now a manicurist) his plan to
make it big so that they could flee New York and retire to
Miami. Frenchy opens a small cookie store as a front to an
operation that sees Ray tunneling in the basement with his
partners in crime in their scheme to rob the next-door bank.
When the strategy fails after a series of exuberant mishaps,
Frenchy's cookie store takes off, developing into a huge,
corporate franchise operation that nets millions for the
Winklers.

While Ray is content to be Ray, Frenchy soon puts
on airs in her aspiration to be accepted as high society. Her
vulgar taste in home decor, however, prompts her to link up
with handsome, young art collector David (Hugh Grant), who
is to make her a class act by teaching her about fine food,
wine, art, literature, music, and travel. Ray, on the other
hand, would rather have a cheeseburger than escargot and
playing cards with the boys is more his cup of tea than, well,
sipping tea with the elite. As they grow apart, Ray spends
most of his time in the company of fellow lowbrow May
(Elaine May), whose emptiness upstairs leads the audience
to enjoy quite a few more belly-laughs.

"Small Time Crooks" proves that you can go home again.
While Woody Allen is laying on the theme, "Don't wish too
hard for what you want, because you may get it," he does so
with the genial flair he employed to direct movies that made
him so amiable during the sixties and early seventies, before
he turned to the more sober political agenda of "The Front"
and the obscure, depressing "Shadows and Fog." If Allen
had attempted to continue with the caper theme, this film
could have been overlong at 95 minutes. But he wisely and
surprisingly dovetails that facet of the story into something
greater, opening up the yarn to give us a look at the
phoniness, the pretensions, and the cynicism of the tuxedo-
clad members of New York society. Correct me if I'm wrong,
but years after making a film about a middle-aged guy who is
dating "a girl who does homework," isn't this the first time
Allen has paired himself off romantically with a woman who is
older than he is (Elaine May)?

Everything gels in "Small Time Crooks," thanks largely to
the chemistry between Woody Allen and the remarkable
Tracey Ullman, who had delighted her fans for years as the
boisterous, fun-loving and forever-changing character on her
own TV show and is now made up to look a decade older
than her forty years. For his part, Allen may not be quite as
good-looking as some others in his age group (Warren Beatty
and Robert Redford for example), but he's as youthful as
ever and gives hope to all of us that we may look shlubby in
our late-middle years but can keep the spring in our step and
the gleam in our eyes. Because of the adept, multi-layered
story-telling present in "Small Time Crooks," we can better
understand at least one guy who won big bucks about ten
years ago in the New York lottery and said that his biggest
ambition was to go to Hawaii. Why not Europe? Why not
around the world? This guy--his name is Lou, I believe--knew
long before seeing this movie that he would be one unhappy
rich man indeed if he followed the advice of the well-heeled
and famous.